Late Nights in the Office
by ourheroregina
Summary: Written for Inspired by OQ 2019. Inspired by the wonderful art by starscythe /p/BYTHIFFF X5/


My 2nd entry for Inspired by OQ 2019 is inspired by the wonderful art by starscythe. You can find the manip here: p/BYTHIFFF_X5/?fbclid=IwAR0EWvEAs4JiATUSS1jqSBwjF4ZNj5UzZwE5pXjHOOlB5rU534dpziSNxxs

Late Nights in the Office

"Done," Regina breathes out in relief, shutting her laptop off.

Robin grins at her from the other side of the desk, but even from a distance it is obvious just how tired he actually is.

They had a few busy days in the office, Regina, as a mayor, was negotiating the funding of a new school in Storybrooke, and Robin, her assistant, helped her in every way possible to make it happen. Finally, they've finished their petitions and their late nights in the office were over (until another problem arose, which was probably going to happen too soon).

"I'm going to send it out first thing in the morning," Robin says after standing up and stretching. "We did a wonderful job, by the way, Madam Mayor."

"That we did," Regina agrees with a smile, too tired to come up with some sassy remark about how she did all the work and Robin was just bothering her the whole time.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she notices that it's past twelve. Everyone has left the building hours ago, only the two of them had stayed behind to finish off the details of the important project. It looks like the time just flew by while they were working.

"I like this," Robin's voice snaps her out of her thoughts and when she looks at him, he's motioning to the mess of papers on her desk, the empty boxes of take-out that served as their dinner or maybe the midnight snack. "You, me, working together. It's fun."

"Your meaning of fun is really strange."

Robin rolls his eyes at her.

Standing up, Regina starts collecting papers from her desk. She could leave it for the morning because she needs to get home and sleep and then get up at 6 AM to make breakfast for Henry, but she's sure as hell that as soon as she enters the office in the morning, a new problem will present itself and she'll curse herself for not cleaning the mess the previous night.

Robin helps her with the papers, he puts them into the cases which they came from, their hands touching and bumping from time to time. Regina doesn't give it much thought, until Robin stops doing his task. It's then when she feels his eyes boring into her, piercing right through her skin and staring into her soul.

"Robin?" she asks, lifting her eyes from the desk to him. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, of course," he assures her, his eyes never leaving her. "I'm just wondering how you can be so stunning even after such a long and tiring day."

"Robin…" Regina shakes her head at him, quickly looking away and resuming her task of sorting papers out. "It's been a long day and I have no strength left within me to fight you."

"Then don't fight me." He says, and all of a sudden he's rounding the desk. In a moment he's standing beside her, his hands only inches away from touching hers. "Regina, I… I can't do this anymore," he admits, making her look at him again. "I… I want-"

"Don't finish that sentence," she warns, walking away from him. She puts a folder into a shelf to give herself some time to collect her thoughts. "We've been over this," she says when she turns around and finds Robin standing right where she's left him, his eyes following every movement of hers.

"I don't understand how you can be so collected when it comes to this."

"Who says that I'm not conflicted?" She asks. "But it's for the best. You and I, we both know that as long as we work together, nothing else can happen between us."

"What if I quit tomorrow? Would you let me into your life?"

"Don't talk nonsense!" She exclaims. "We're a perfect team. You are doing a pretty good job as my assistant and sometimes you understand me more than I understand myself. I need you in this job and I don't mix work with my personal life.

"Don't you feel it too?"

She purses her lips and crosses her arms across her chest in defense. "I do, but it doesn't change anything." Then she takes another folder from the desk and takes it to the shelf. "I think it's better if you leave. Thank you for tonight. Goodnight, Robin."

Her words leave no place to argue and Robin gives her one last stare before saying "Goodnight, Regina," and walks out of the office.

Once the door is closed behind him, Regina braces herself against the desk and huffs out a breath.

It's for the best, she assures herself.

(…)

When she leaves the office half an hour later, Robin is waiting outside. It's raining, but he's standing there without an umbrella, his hair and face and clothes all wet, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

"What are you still doing here?" Regina asks, confused, holding the huge umbrella over her head.

Instead of replying, Robin surprises her by pulling her into a kiss. His cold and wet lips brush against hers in an unexpected kiss, a kiss that she doesn't return immediately, but in the end gives in and kisses him back like there's no tomorrow. When his arms wrap around her waist and pull her closer as he deepens the kiss, she almost loses her hold on the umbrella, not caring anymore if she's protected from the rain or not.

As long as she's in Robin's arms, nothing seems to matter.

The kiss ends as unexpectedly as it began.

"Goodnight, Regina," Robin says after abruptly pulling away. He quickly turns around and runs towards his car, leaving Regina standing in the middle of the dark and empty parking lot, her mouth parted in surprise.


End file.
